European Council reviewed the list of countries for which member states should gradually lift travel restrictions at the external borders. Algeria has been removed from the list.
In the updated list, the Council of the European Union recommends that member states open their borders with Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
The list of safe countries also includes China, but traffic with China will resume only after the country opens its borders to the EU.
Regarding the epidemiological situation, third countries listed should meet the following criteria, in particular:
•number of new COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days and per 100 000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average (as it stood on 15 June 2020);
•stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days;
•overall response to COVID-19 taking into account available information, including on aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment, treatment and reporting, as well as the reliability of the information and, if needed, the total average score for International Health Regulations (IHR). Information provided by EU delegations on these aspects should also be taken into account.
